Old Macomb Daily photo goes viral

It was just another photograph taken on a steamy summer afternoon in downtown Mount Clemens to fill space in the newspaper.

But for all of the images captured in a 40-plus year career by Joe Crachiola, it may be the photo of a lifetime.

The picture showing two sets of siblings — three black children and two white kids — hugging while they play in an alley, has gone viral on the Internet, taking on a life of its own and sparking a conversation on race relations in America.

“I always thought it was one of the best pictures I ever took,” Crachiola said.

Crachiola, 63, snapped the shot on July 31, 1973, as part of a photo essay while he was a staff photographer with The Macomb Daily.

Now retired and residing in New Orleans, Crachiola posted the picture on Facebook on Sunday afternoon as he contemplated the racial divide over the not guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla.

He wrote a short commentary on what he termed “one of my most meaningful pictures” and went on to write about lost innocence and questioning when children begin to judge each other. He ended with: “In light of the current state of affairs in this country I can’t help but wonder if we couldn’t all learn something from them.”

Within hours, the photo had been shared and “liked” by hundreds on Facebook. As of Tuesday afternoon, he had more than 93,000 hits on his Facebook page. “That’s in 48 hours — it’s just crazy,” he said.

Crachiola was wandering around downtown Mount Clemens one afternoon in 1973 looking for subject matter when he came across the kids playing on Cherry Street behind what used to be the Priehs Department Store. After taking a few shots, he was noticed by the children.

“They were just running around being kids and one of them saw me and said, ‘Hey, mister, take our picture.’ I didn’t pose them. It was very spontaneous,” he recalled.

The photograph shows one youngster pushing a shopping cart, while two girls and two boys — of opposite colors — embraced. It was one of four photos published in the essay in the following day’s newspaper.

But the image stayed in Crachiola’s mind and he ended up making an enlarged print of it, which still hangs on the wall in his dining room. He later learned former Congressman Don Riegle had a print that he hung in his office in Washington, D.C.

Crachiola, who is white, said the picture was taken at a time when racial tensions were high in metropolitan Detroit

“We grew up in the 1950s and 60s at a time of social upheaval and changing social values and the civil rights movement,” he said.

The picture has generated media interest — Crachiola on Tuesday was fielding calls from reporters around the country including National Public Radio — and a large number of comments from Facebook users over the past two days.

“Great picture! We can learn much from children,” wrote Marianne Droste of Commerce Township.

Marty Townsend stated: “The unconditional love of children, if able to be bottled, would be the medicine that would fix this nation. Bigotry is taught, it isn’t something that we’re born with... This is a beautiful photo. Thank you for sharing it.”

Crachiola, who went on to work for Detroit Edison and taught at Macomb Community College after he left the media, on Tuesday said he would love to learn what happened to the children in the picture.

The Macomb Daily’s newspapers are archived on microfilm and stored in the basement of the Mount Clemens Public Library. On Tuesday, at the request of The Macomb Daily, assistant library director Deborah Larsen searched for the image and found the caption.

The children are Rhonda Shelly, who was 3 at the time, along with her 6-year-old brother, Robert, and 5-year-old sister, Lisa Shelly, along with Kathy Macool, 7, and her brother, Chris, 9. All resided on New Street.

Crachiola said he is humbled and surprised by the intense interest shown by social media users in the photograph.